WASHINGTON — Christmas at Vice President Mike Pence's official residence literally jumps out of the pages of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Every room on the main floor of the Naval Observatory represents a verse from the poem by Clement Clarke Moore, officially titled "A Visit from St. Nicholas." Pence has a family tradition of reading the holiday classic to his three children every Christmas Eve even though they're adults now and the gang includes a daughter-in-law. Stockings hung by the chimney with care? Nine red ones hang from the fireplace mantle in the dining room: Six for the Pences...

SAN FRANCISCO — Nearly two dozen consumer, privacy and public health groups are urging U.S. regulators to investigate whether children are being endangered by deceptive apps in Google's app store for smartphones running on its Android software. The 102-page complaint filed Wednesday with the Federal Trade Commission alleges Google's Play store is harming kids by allowing apps that break privacy laws, contain adult content or include manipulative advertising in a section of its Play store designed for children. The call for FTC action is being led by two groups, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital...

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is changing the way it reviews sponsors who want to care for migrant children in government custody — backing off a requirement that all people in the house are fingerprinted. The fingerprint requirement began in June amid the zero-tolerance policy at the border that led to the separation of some 2,400 children from their parents. The children taken from parents were placed in shelters until a sponsor, often a parent or other family member, could be found and evaluated before releasing the children to that sponsor. But the addition of fingerprinting has slowed the process...

SEATTLE — Google and Facebook have agreed to pay $455,000 to settle allegations that they failed to keep proper records about who was paying for campaign ads on their sites, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Tuesday. Google will pay $217,000 and Facebook will pay $238,000 in response to two lawsuits filed in June that accused the tech firms of not obeying the state law on political-ad transparency, Ferguson said. Facebook spokeswoman Beth Gautier said the company was pleased to resolve the matter. "We're working hard to protect election integrity and prevent foreign interference. We believe all ads should...

LOS ANGELES — Celebrities offer their thanks, remembrances and condolences on the death of actress-director Penny Marshall, who died Monday at 75. ___ "I loved Penny. I grew up with her. She was born with a great gift. She was born with a funnybone and the instinct of how to use it. I was very lucky to have lived with her and her funnybone. I will miss her." — Rob Reiner, who was married to Marshall from 1971 to 1981, via Twitter. "Goodbye, Penny. Man, did we laugh a lot! Wish we still could. Love you. Hanx." — Tom Hanks...